Combat Talent

There was no referee for the training duel. Seth calmly watched Lynn, and when he saw that Lynn still hadn't moved after all this time, he laughed and called out loudly:

"Little brother Lynn, why haven't you started chanting yet? Don't worry, cast your magic first. I won't take the chance to interrupt you!"

His laughter was hearty. Hearing him, Lynn only smiled faintly. "No need. It's already done."

The moment he finished speaking, icy blossoms gathered before him, forming a sharp ring of ice.

Formula casting? Seth's gaze tightened slightly. Looks like this kid really isn't simple!

He squared his stance, his attitude growing a little more serious.

Sizzle, sizzle—

He drew the weapon at his waist. In an instant, the four-foot-long staff was covered in electric currents, arcs of lightning faintly condensing into the shape of a longsword.

Zero-ring evocation cantrip, Thunder Sword? Looks like he's still planning to go easy. He isn't even using a first-ring spell...

Lynn focused his mind, and the Frost Ring spun as it flew out, heading straight for Seth's left side. With Absorption Magic present, he did not have to worry about injuring the other man.

Seth had already completed his evocation. The lightning blade was almost solid, and even without upcasting it, with his understanding of Thunder Sword, it was still extremely powerful in his hands.

He gripped the hilt with both hands, turned to the left, and easily blocked the Frost Ring's attack.

Crack, crack, crack, crack—Lightning and cold air clashed, and for a moment, neither side could overcome the other.

"Concentration magic?" Only now did the three apprentice mages watching from the side realize that Lynn's ice ring had not vanished after one strike. It was actually concentration magic that could be continuously controlled.

"He's only a trainee mage, and he's using concentration magic? Has he gone mad?" the short-haired woman cried out.

One had to know that concentration magic consumed an enormous amount of mana, making a caster's already meager early-stage endurance even worse, like adding frost to snow. Even apprentice mages like them shied away from it. What right did a mere trainee mage have to dare operate like this?

"And," the blue-robed man said with a grave expression, "do any of you have an impression of the spell he's using?"

"Heh." On the other side, the blue-robed mage Adolph stroked his long beard, his eyes shining. "A completely new concentration spell, yet its user is a wet-behind-the-ears brat at the trainee level..."

He glanced at Barton beside him and said with a smile, "Looking at that practiced control, I'm almost starting to suspect this spell was invented by the kid himself."

Barton, however, looked perfectly calm. He had already heard Elaine mention Lynn's mastery of a brand-new concentration spell before. But when he heard Adolph's words, his face immediately glowed with pride, and he said rather smugly:

"Invention is a bit much. Even old fellows like us might not invent one or two spells in our entire lives. But the kid really does have plenty of spirituality. It's perfectly normal for him to have some dogshit luck, stumble into one or two spell patterns no one's seen before, record them, and cast them."

Seeing that his companion had not taken the bait and revealed anything secret about Lynn, old Adolph merely nodded and continued looking toward the dueling ground.

On the field, after Seth's Thunder Sword and Lynn's Frost Ring had remained locked in a stalemate for a while, Seth suddenly exerted his strength, raised his right leg, bent his knee, and slammed it viciously into the Frost Ring.

With a boom, where the ice ring collided with his knee, a bowl-sized gap was forcibly smashed open. He flicked the tip of his sword and, using clever force, sent the ice ring flying away.

This!

Not only the spectators outside the field, even Lynn was secretly shocked.

What a ruthless knee strike! If this were on a battlefield, that blow probably would've smashed his knee into a bloody mess. But with the Absorption Magic barrier protecting him, it was the Frost Ring that suffered severe damage instead.

Even so, the Absorption Magic barrier had also lost a great deal at once.

"Lynn, is that a first-ring spell? It already feels stronger than quite a few poorly used second-ring ones!"

Seth grinned and praised him, but inwardly, he was extremely startled. This ice ring was not only a concentration spell, its overall strength was also a level above first-ring magic. Even he found it somewhat difficult to handle. Calling it a quasi-second-ring spell would not be too much!

His fighting spirit gradually rose, and he began chanting under his breath.

Whoosh! A breeze brushed over his legs.

First-ring transmutation, Jump Spell. It could greatly enhance the jumping ability of the spell's target for a short period of time.

His incantation did not stop. Immediately afterward, his whole body was enveloped in white light.

First-ring transmutation, Agile Maneuver. It made movements and reactions more agile, but after the effect ended, the target would fall into a brief weakened state.

Once he was prepared, he gripped the Thunder Sword with both hands and leaped with force. He soared upward like a bird, brushing past the ceiling as he came down. When he struck the ground, a cloud of dust splashed up, and he landed right behind Lynn.

That sudden leap was completed in the blink of an eye. Even though Lynn had anticipated it, he still had no time to react.

The long staff wrapped in electric light and thunder came attacking from behind, and his entire body instantly tensed.

This pressure—and he still says he isn't a warrior!?

Clang!

The Thunder Sword struck Lynn's back. Seth had deliberately controlled his strength so that he would not injure bone or tendon, at most harming flesh, but the expected sound of a blow never came.

Instead, it was like metal striking metal, and even his wrist was jolted numb.

Half a foot around Lynn's body, a semi-transparent shield shining with white light suddenly appeared, blocking his strike.

Shield Spell?

No, even if Shield Spell is cast quickly, it should still take a bit of time. But just now, I didn't see him chant at all, did I?

Could it be formula casting again!?

Being able to use formula casting meant that the caster had reached a skilled, even proficient, level with that spell.

He's so young, yet he can actually master two first-ring spells proficiently?

For a moment, Seth was so shocked that he was somewhat dazed. The Frost Ring with a gap in it came whistling over, spinning as it sliced toward him.

Fortunately, the boost from Agile Maneuver was still active. He reacted in time and barely blocked the attack.

With his earlier probing done, Seth no longer deliberately held back his strength. Both wrists exerted force at once, and with a furious sweeping chop, he actually smashed the ice ring to pieces.

But this should be the end of it. As an apprentice mage, after using two first-circle spells in a row, one of them even a concentration spell, his mana pool had to be scraping the bottom...

Thinking this, he turned his head to look at Lynn, who had already pulled back to a distance.

...?

He saw countless ice crystals rapidly condensing in front of Lynn, and an ice ring exactly the same as before appeared once again.

"How is that possible!?" Among the three watching the battle, the tall, thin man who had seen Lynn's records at the Magic Association immediately cried out in shock.

The other two likewise looked at Lynn and the Frost Ring on the field in disbelief.

"Even for me, after maintaining a concentration spell and Shield Spell for so long, my mana would be about to bottom out. This apprentice mage can actually still cast another first-circle spell..."

The man in the blue robe said in a low voice. Among the three of them, his mana pool could be considered the deepest and largest.

Hearing him say this, the short-haired woman could not help but carefully size Lynn up.

It was as if she had only just noticed that Lynn's bearing and appearance were both rather exceptional.

For her, looks would always come second. Only outstanding talent was what attracted mages like them the most.

"You've got quite a few trump cards, kid." Seth suspected that Lynn had secretly used some magical tool to restore his mana. This was not completely forbidden in a duel; otherwise, the use of magic staffs would not be permitted either.

"How about this? I like fast attacks. If you've got any moves, go ahead and use them too. Let's settle this quickly!"

He said this because Agile Maneuver had a very short duration, and afterward it would leave him in a weakened state with limp hands and feet. On top of that, he had already fought fiercely with the man in the blue robe earlier, so he did not have much mana left.

As the "ever-victorious general" of the dueling arena, Seth still had some pride. How could he allow himself to lose to an apprentice mage today?

"Fine," Lynn said in a calm tone. "I rather like fast attacks too."

The moment his words fell, the Frost Ring spun out.

At the same time, he raised his right hand, and firelight instantly flared at his fingertip!